A/N: Busy not owning Harry Potter… and writing this fic! Thanks for all your reviews! Read and review!
Chapter 4
"It's just a dream, Al," Dennis said, spooning oatmeal into his mouth at the Gryffindor table. On the way to the Great Hall, Al had related his dream to the twins in detail. "I wouldn't worry about it if I were you."
"I don't know…," Verity said, chewing on her biscuit thoughtfully. "But I know who probably would."
"Who?" Albus asked eagerly.
"Have you ever talked to your dad about his years at Hogwarts, when he was fighting Voldemort?" Ver asked.
"No, he doesn't really like to talk about it all," he replied.
"Well, I think you should ask him. I mean, I don't think this has anything to do with Voldemort, because your dad defeated him, but I mean… he's got experience with Dark stuff, you know?" she said.
"Yeah, that's a really good idea, Ver. What would I do without you?" Albus said.
"Fail History of Magic, probably," she replied, grinning broadly at him.
That night in the quiet safety of the otherwise empty boys' dormitory, Albus, Verity, and Dennis crowded around the two-way mirror. "Dad?" Al said. His father's face appeared in the mirror.
"Al! How's your fourth year going so far?" Harry said.
"Great," Albus said, crossing his fingers behind the mirror.
"Verity! Dennis! How are my favorite Pierces?" he said happily.
"Mr. Potter, we're the only Pierces you know," Verity said, giggling.
"Not the point," Harry said, brushing it off. "What do I have to thank for this pleasant visit form the three of you? Did you finally manage to convince Al here to talk to his own father more often?"
"Actually, Mr. Potter, we called to ask your advice," Dennis said.
"Oh really?" Harry said, his green eyes widening in surprise. Ver kept looking back and forth from Al to the mirror, amused by the remarkable resemblance between the two.
"Dad," Al said. "There's a new professor, Professor Drasen. She's the Potions master. Ver has a bad feeling about her, and according to Dennis, her feelings are pretty accurate. When our eyes met, something shocked me and it really hurt. When Ver and her locked eyes, they had a staring contest and Verity passed out. And last night, I had a dream… in it, Drasen kidnapped Dennis and Verity to get to me and tortured them. Then she… she killed Ver, Dad." Harry's hand instantly went to his scar, but he knew it wouldn't sting like it had when Voldemort was alive. Voldemort was quite dead.
"What did you think I could help you with, son?" he asked quietly.
"It was actually my idea, Mr. Potter," Verity admitted. "You see, we were confused and we had no idea what to do, but I figured you, with all the experience you had fighting Voldemort and all, might know something that could help us. I'm sorry."
"That's okay, Verity, it's fine. It's just… something similar to what happened to Albus when he looked at Drasen happened to me once… but you don't have a scar. Where did it hurt, Al?" Harry said.
"Everywhere, Dad," Al replied.
"Hmmm," Harry said thoughtfully. "I've had dreams like that, too… I don't mean to sound paranoid, but from my experience, something's not right. As for what's wrong… I couldn't tell you that anymore than a troll could."
"So what do we do, Mr. Potter?" Dennis asked.
"Stick together. All of you. You three, Rose, James, Lily, and Hugo. Keep an eye on Lily and Hugo especially. And talk to Professor Longbottom. Listen, I've got to go. Your mum's done cooking dinner," Harry said. "Be careful."
"Thanks, Dad. We will. Give Mum my love," Al said. With that, he put the mirror away. He sighed. "Come on. We better go talk to James."
The three of them trotted down to the common room and found Al's older brother chatting up some seventh year girl. "James," Verity said, approaching him, "we need to talk to you."
"Can't you see I'm busy?" he asked, sounding a bit annoyed.
"It's important," Albus insisted.
"Fine. I'll talk to you later, Shannon," James said, following them over to a secluded corner. "This better be important, I was about to ask her out." Albus proceeded to tell him exactly what they had told Harry and what their dad had said as well.
"I reckon we better do what Dad tells us, Al," James said. "You know what else I reckon? We ought to talk to Scorpius. His dad was forced to be a Death Eater, he may know how Dark Magic like this works."
"I reckon you're right, James," Verity said. "We have our first Potions class with the Slytherins tomorrow; I'll talk to him."
"That's a good idea, because we all know you're his favorite Gryffindor," Dennis teased.
"Shut up," she snapped. "Just because Scorpius has fancied me since first year doesn't mean we can't be friends…" Dennis noticed Al's silence and strange facial expression, so he took Verity's advice and shut his mouth.
"How are things with the Pierce family?" James asked.
"Good. Mum and Dad are in Bermuda right now, vacationing without us," Dennis replied.
"You are coming to our place for Christmas, yeah?" James asked. "Mum and Dad'll probably be depressed if you don't. So will Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione."
"Course we're coming, James," Verity said. "Don't be ridiculous. I think my parents will actually let us take you up on that offer to spend the summer this year as well. We'll just have to go home for a fortnight, then we can come to your place via the Floo network."
"That'd be awesome! I mean, I'm around you two so much I feel like you're my friends, too," James said.
"Course we are, you dolt," Dennis scoffed. "What are you, thick?" The four of them roared with laughter.
"Oh, I just remembered that we have Herbology tomorrow as well," Al said. "That should be fun, our first class back with Professor Longbottom."
"He's my favorite Professor, personally," Verity said.
"Yeah, he loves all the Potters, Weasleys, and Pierces," James laughed.
"Damn, it's nearly eleven," Al gasped. "We better go to sleep now if we're going to be ready for Drasen tomorrow." As Verity parted from them, Albus couldn't help feeling a strange longing to follow her, to just talk to her and be with her. He suppressed this longing, however, and merely wondered how long he could keep this up.